Many stores provide shopping carts for their customers to allow the customers to transport merchandise in their stores and to their vehicles. Stores also provide shopping cart corrals in their parking lots so the store's customers can return the shopping carts after the customers have transported any purchased merchandise to their vehicles. Providing shopping cart corrals reduces vehicle damage complaints by customers by supplying the customers with a location to return their shopping carts, instead of the customers leaving the shopping carts in unoccupied parking spaces in the store's parking lot. Shopping carts left in unoccupied parking spaces are more likely to roll (or be accidentally pushed) into a vehicle parked in the parking lot and cause damage to the body or paint of the vehicle, as well as damage the cart. Shopping cart corrals, also, help keep parking lots organized and reduce shopping cart theft and loss.
While shopping cart corrals can save the store money by reducing shopping cart loss and claims of vehicle damage, shopping cart corrals are expensive to purchase and provide no direct revenue to the store.
Furthermore, shopping cart corrals can become dingy and battered after an extended period of time in the parking lot. Dingy and battered shopping cart corrals can be a blemish or eyesore at the front of an otherwise pristine and/or well-maintained store. Dingy shopping cart corrals are particularly problematic because they are often located in high traffic areas.
Accordingly, a need or potential for benefit exists for a shopping cart corral that provides on-going revenue to the store, that is more attractive, and that is not a blemish or eyesore. A need also exists to better utilize the valuable space occupied by shopping cart corrals to reach out to people driving or walking through parking lots.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, corral, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, corral, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms “couple,” “coupled,” “couples,” “coupling,” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements or signals, electrically, mechanically and/or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled but not be mechanically or otherwise coupled; two or more mechanical elements may be mechanically coupled, but not be electrically or otherwise coupled; two or more electrical elements may be mechanically coupled, but not be electrically or otherwise coupled. Coupling may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant.
“Electrical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include coupling involving any electrical signal, whether a power signal, a data signal, and/or other types or combinations of electrical signals. “Mechanical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include mechanical coupling of all types.
The absence of the word “removably,” “removable,” and the like near the word “coupled,” and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.